Showing titles in Homelessness, Runaways & Poverty

Raphael is a dumpsite boy. He spends his days wading through mountains of steaming trash, sifting it, sorting it, breathing it, sleeping next to it. Then one unlucky-lucky day, Raphael's world turns upside down. A small leather bag falls into his hands. It's a bag of clues. It's a bag of hope...

Aremis Slake, at the age of thirteen, took his fear and misfortune and hid them underground. The thing is, he had to go with them...

Since his mother's death, Bully has lost his old life. Living rough with his dog, Jack, he can't imagine his future. But one day, in the last birthday card she ever gave him, he finds a winning lottery ticket, a last gift from his mum that suddenly offers such hope. If only he can get to his prize on time. Life is not that simple. Bully's struggle to survive has just got a whole lot harder. They're after him on the streets, everyone wants a piece of him.

This is the sequel to Freckles - the moving story of a young girl whose kindness and wholesome philosophy brightens the lives of everyone she meets.

Fourteen-year-old Terry has parents who never paid him much attention. So when they both disappear after one of their all-too-frequent arguments, Terry isn’t exactly eager for them to come home. On his own, he occupies himself by assembling a car kit that’s been collecting dust in the garage for years. When the car is finished, Terry is pleased to discover it actually runs. Though he doesn’t know much about driving, he gets behind the wheel and heads west, with the notion of visiting an uncle in Oregon. But Terry’s plan takes a detour when he meets Shakespeare-quoting wanderer Waylon Jackson....

Parisian teenager Lou has an IQ of 160, OCD tendencies, and a mother who has suffered from depression for years. But Lou is about to change her life - and that of her parents - all because of a school project about homeless teens. While doing research, Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou bravely asks her parents if No can live with them, and is astonished when they agree. No's presence forces Lou's family to come to terms with a secret tragedy.

One bright spring morning in the woods of France, a soldier, blinded by the war, is found by a little girl named Coco, and her older sister Marcelle. In return for their kindness, the soldier tells the sisters marvelous tales, each story connected to the keepsake he carries in his pocket: a perfect, tiny, silver donkey.

When it happened Miguel was sent to Juvi. The judge only gave him a year in a group home - said he had to write in a journal so some counselor could try to figure out how he thinks. The judge had no idea that he'd actually done Miguel a favor. Ever since it happened Miguel’s mom can't even look him in the eye. Any home besides his would be a better place to live. But Miguel didn’t bet on meeting Rondell or Mong or on any of what happened after they broke out. He only thought about Mexico and getting across the border to where he could start over....

James Patterson presents a bold new heroine -- a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Annie Oakley: Serendipity Jones, the fastest sharpshooter in tomorrow's West. Seventeen-year-old Serendipity "Pity" Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She's been...

Ever since her mother left, Maia's struggled with depression - which once got so bad, she had to go to an institution for a while. She doesn't want to go back. When Maia sets off on a road trip in search of her mom, Billy unexpectedly comes along. They drive up the East Coast, stopping along the way for lobster rolls and lighthouses. Maia learns that Billy has dark secrets of his own - and wants to outrun his past, too. But what will the future hold if they reach their destination?

Benito's father, Xavier, has been in Iraq for more than a year. When he returns, Benito's family life is not the same. Xavier suffers from PTSD - post-traumatic stress disorder - and yells constantly. He causes such a scene at a school function that Benny is embarrassed to go to back to Southside High. Benny can't handle seeing his dad so crazy, so he decides to run away. Will Benny find a new life? Or will he learn how to deal with his dad - through good times and bad?

Baby is a teenager in trouble, and her last chance is a foster home with a husband and wife whose idea of fun is dogsledding. Still, it beats going to the juvenile detention center. Baby comes to love the dogs and takes naturally to sledding, but when her old boyfriend, Bobby, shows up, she can't stop herself from running off with him. Life with Bobby goes bad, and Baby has to make some hard decisions.

Amelia Collins se muda a una nueva ciudad para escapar de un oscuro pasado y lo único que quiere es pasar totalmente desapercibida y acabar el último curso del instituto. Pero sus planes cambian drásticamente cuando el primer día tropieza, literalmente, con el chico más increíble del instituto, el chico que encabeza la lista de las personas con las que no meterse... Aiden Park. Amelia debe encontrar la forma de sobrevivir y de no caer en los brazos del insoportablemente atractivo Aiden, ni de Mason.

Fifteen-year-old Tyler's teenage angst turns to outright rebellion when his family leaves London for a new life in Yorkshire. He's angry with his parents about the upheaval and furious at losing his home. With only the dog to confide in, Tyler has no idea that a chance meeting with a skinny girl called Spider will lead him into a world he never even knew existed. Spider is sofa surfing, and Tyler finds himself spinning a tangled web of lies in his efforts to help her escape her world of fear and insecurity. 

Thirteen-year-old Hadi Toma and his family are displaced. At least that's what the Lebanese government calls them and the thousands of other Syrian refugees that have flooded into Beirut. But as Hadi tries to earn money to feed his family by selling gum on the street corner, he learns that many people who travel the city don't think they're displaced - they think that they don't belong in this country either. Each day he hears insults, but each day he convinces himself they don't matter, approaching the cars again and again. He hardly dares to dream anymore that this might change.

58,643,129. That's how many dollars 17-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather just won in the lotto jackpot. It's also about how many reasons she has for not coming forward to claim her prize. Problem #1: Jane is still a minor, and if anyone discovers she bought the ticket underage, she'll either have to forfeit the ticket or worse.... Problem #2: Let her hoarder mother cash it. The last thing Jane's mom needs is millions of dollars to buy more junk. Problem #3: Jane's best friend, aspiring journalist Brandon Kim, declares on the news that he's going to find the lucky winner.

James Patterson presents a bold new heroine -- a cross between Katniss Everdeen and Annie Oakley: Serendipity Jones, the fastest sharpshooter in tomorrow's West. Seventeen-year-old Serendipity "Pity" Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She's been...

Allison is in danger at home. Her stepmother has run away and her father is getting worse. So she runs away too and with no where to live finds herself hiding out, miles from home, in an elderly woman’s shed. But this woman, Marla, has dementia and doesn’t recognise her as Allison, believing she is an old friend from her past called Toffee. So this is who Allison becomes, morphing into a person Marla usually knows and trusts but sometimes fears and fights. Eventually Allison’s stepmother shows up, armed with a new baby girl, a new sibling.

When a black South American soccer star signs on to a team in the country’s racist south, headlines blare. And when he falls for the sensual Desmerelda, a stunning white pop singer and daughter of a wealthy politician, their sudden and controversial marriage propels the pair to centre stage, where they burn in the media spotlight. But celebrity attracts enemies; some very close to home. And its dazzle reaches into the city’s hidden corners, exposing a life of grit and desperation the glitterati could never imagine.

When her sister runs away from home, Caitlin is left to deal with the emotional fallout. A powerful book looking at teenage dating from the perspective of young women. Unable to live up to the idealised view of her missing sister, Caitlin withdraws into herself, keeping her life - and her flourishing relationship with Rogerson - a secret even from her best friend. So when Rogerson starts hitting her, she keeps it all inside, her only outlet for her pain a diary, addressed to her missing sister...